to take the souls that are on the hills, those not lying below? And see if the prophet did not cry out mystically saying these things and presenting this meaning in the words: "Behold, I am sending many fishermen, says the Lord, and they will fish for them; and after these things I will send many hunters, and [and] they will hunt them upon every mountain and upon every hill." 16.2 If then you wish to be captured by the hunters, see that you do not make your haunts in the valleys nor pass time anywhere below, but seek the mountains. Go up to the mountain where Jesus was transfigured, go up to the mountain on which "seeing the crowds, he went up," Jesus, and his disciples followed him, where "opening his mouth he taught them, saying: Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven" and the beatitudes that follow these. And it is not possible for these hunters to capture from elsewhere than from the mountains and the hills and from the clefts of the rocks. For these three things are said in the prophet: "For I will send many hunters, and they will hunt them upon <every mountain and> upon every hill and from the clefts of the rocks." From where then will I understand the rocks and the clefts in the rocks? I come to Exodus, I seek to find a trace of a narrative of the clefts of the rocks, I find Moses there wanting to know God, and God promising him and saying: "Behold, I will place you in a cleft of the rock, and you will understand my back parts; but my face will not be seen by you." If you understand the rock there and see the cleft of the rock there, in what way he who stands on the rock and seeing the cleft in the rock sees God through the cleft of the rock, you will see also the many rocks and their clefts. Who then is that one rock? "And the rock was Christ"; "for they drank from a spiritual rock that followed them," and "he set my feet upon a rock" is said in the thirty-ninth Psalm. What is the cleft in the rock? If you see the coming of Jesus, understanding him wholly as a rock, you will see the cleft in his coming, through which cleft the things after God are contemplated. For such is understood in "and you will see my back parts." 16.3 But I have found one cleft of one rock, I pass in my discourse from the cleft to the hole of the rock, I seek also the many rocks. If I come to the choir either of the prophets or of the apostles or even of the holy angels who have ascended, I say that all the imitators of Christ, as he is a rock, become rocks. And just as he has a cleft through which the back parts of God are comprehended, in the same way each one, giving a way for God to be understood through the things said by him, makes in himself a cleft, or if you wish to name it otherwise, a hole. From which cleft or hole you will see through Moses the law, through Isaiah his prophecy, and through Jeremiah other words of God. And if an angel shall be speaking, as he spoke according to what is said in "the angel who spoke in me," there too I stand upon the angel, and I see there a rock and a cleft of a rock and I see God in an angelic way. 16.4 But I have need of an example, that I may show how it is possible, having come upon an angel, to see God through an angel. For it is written in Exodus: "an angel of the Lord appeared in a flame of fire of a bush to Moses. And Moses sees that the bush burns with fire, and the bush is not consumed." And the scripture did not say, just as it said at the beginning that "an angel appeared," thus it said that it was an angel of the Lord, but "I am the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob." God, therefore, was there contemplated in the angel, as God is known through the rock and the cleft in it. You do not know, then, when the hunters are sent. For this reason never come down from the mountains nor leave the hills nor be outside the clefts of the rocks; for if you are found outside, it will be said to you as one who is outside and says the things of those outside: "Fool, this night they require your soul from you; but the things you have prepared, for whom will they be?" and it will be said [to you these things; it will be said] to you [and] these things, if you say: "I will pull down my barns and build greater ones, and I will say to my soul
βάνειν τὰς ψυχὰς τὰς ἐν βουνοῖς, τὰς μὴ κάτω κειμένας; καὶ ὅρα εἰ μὴ κέκραγε μυστικῶς ταῦτα λέγων ὁ προφήτης καὶ τοῦτον παριστὰς τὸν νοῦν ἐν τῷ «ἰδού, ἐγὼ ἀποστέλλω ἁλιεῖς πολλούς, λέγει κύριος, καὶ ἁλιεύσουσιν αὐτούς· καὶ μετὰ ταῦτα ἀποστελῶ πολλοὺς θηρευτάς, καὶ [καὶ] θηρεύσουσιν αὐτοὺς ἐπάνω παντὸς ὄρους καὶ ἐπάνω παντὸς βουνοῦ». 16.2 εἴπερ οὖν θέλεις συλληφθῆναι ὑπὸ τῶν θηρευτῶν, ὅρα μὴ τὰς διατριβὰς ποιήσῃ ἐν ταῖς κοιλάσι μηδὲ κάτω που διατρίψῃς, ἀλλὰ ζήτει τὰ ὄρη. ἀνάβα εἰς τὸ ὄρος ὅπου Ἰησοῦς μετεμορφώθη, ἀνάβα εἰς τὸ ὄρος ἐφ' οὗ «ἰδὼν τοὺς ὄχλους ἀναβέβηκεν» ὁ Ἰησοῦς, καὶ ἠκολούθησαν αὐτῷ οἱ μαθηταί, ἔνθα «ἀνοίξας τὸ στόμα αὐτοῦ ἐδίδαξε λέγων· μακάριοι οἱ πτωχοὶ τῷ πνεύματι, ὅτι αὐτῶν ἐστιν ἡ βασιλεία τῶν οὐρανῶν» καὶ τοὺς ἑξῆς τούτων μακαρισμούς. Καὶ οὐκ ἔξεστί γε τούτοις τοῖς θηρευταῖς ἀλλαχόθεν συλλαβεῖν ἢ ἀπὸ τῶν ὀρέων καὶ τῶν βουνῶν καὶ ἀπὸ τῶν τρυμαλιῶν τῶν πετρῶν. ταῦτα γὰρ τὰ τρία λέλεκται ἐν τῷ προφήτῃ· «ἀποστελῶ γὰρ πολλοὺς θηρευτάς, καὶ θηρεύσουσιν αὐτοὺς ἐπάνω <παντὸς ὄρους καὶ> ἐπάνω παντὸς βουνοῦ καὶ ἀπὸ τῶν τρυμαλιῶν τῶν πετρῶν». πόθεν οὖν νοήσω τὰς πέτρας καὶ τὰς ἐν ταῖς πέτραις τρυμαλιάς; ἔρχομαι ἐπὶ τὴν Ἔξοδον, ζητῶ ἴχνος εὑρεῖν διηγήσεως τῶν τρυμα λιῶν τῶν πετρῶν, εὑρίσκω Μωσέα ἐκεῖ βουλόμενον γνῶναι τὸν θεόν, καὶ τὸν θεὸν ἐπαγγελλόμενον αὐτῷ καὶ λέγοντα· «ἰδού, θήσω σε εἰς ὀπὴν τῆς πέτρας, καὶ κατανοήσεις μου τὰ ὀπίσω· τὸ δὲ πρόσωπόν μου οὐκ ὀφθήσεταί σοι». ἐὰν νοήσῃς ἐκεῖ τὴν πέτραν καὶ ἴδῃς ἐκεῖ τὴν ὀπὴν τῆς πέτρας, τίνα τρόπον ὁ ἐπὶ τῆς πέτρας στὰς καὶ τὴν ὀπὴν τὴν ἐν τῇ πέτρᾳ ἰδὼν βλέπει τὸν θεὸν διὰ τῆς ὀπῆς τῆς πέτρας, ὄψει καὶ τὰς πολλὰς πέτρας καὶ τὰς τρυμαλιὰς αὐτῶν. τίς οὖν ἐκείνη ἡ πέτρα ἡ μία; «ἡ πέτρα δὲ ἦν ὁ Χριστός»· «ἔπινον γὰρ ἐκ πνευματικῆς ἀκολουθούσης πέτρας», καὶ «ἔστησεν ἐπὶ πέτραν τοὺς πόδας μου» ἐν τῷ ἐνάτῳ καὶ τριακοστῷ λέγεται Ψαλμῷ. τίς ἡ ὀπὴ ἡ ἐν τῇ πέτρᾳ; ἐὰν ἴδῃς τὴν Ἰησοῦ ἐπιδημίαν, ὅλον αὐτὸν νοήσας πέτραν, ὄψει τὴν ὀπὴν κατὰ τὴν ἐπιδημίαν αὐτοῦ, δι' ἧς ὀπῆς θεωρεῖται τὰ μετὰ τὸν θεόν. τοιοῦτον γὰρ νοεῖται ἐν τῷ «καὶ ὄψει τὰ ὀπίσω μου». 16.3 Ἀλλ' εὗρον μίαν ὀπὴν μιᾶς πέτρας, μεταβαίνω τῷ λόγῳ ἀπὸ τῆς ὀπῆς ἐπὶ τὴν τρυμαλιὰν τῆς πέτρας, ζητῶ καὶ τὰς πολλὰς πέτρας. ἐὰν ἔλθω ἐπὶ τὸν χορὸν εἴτε τῶν προφητῶν εἴτε τῶν ἀποστόλων εἴτε καὶ ἐπαναβεβηκότων ἁγίων ἀγγέλων, λέγω ὅτι πάντες οἱ Χριστοῦ μιμηταί, ὡς ἐκεῖνος πέτρα ἐστί, πέτραι γίνονται. καὶ ὥσπερ ἐκεῖνος ἔχει ὀπὴν δι' ἧς κατανοεῖται τὰ ὀπίσω τοῦ θεοῦ, τὸν αὐτὸν τρόπον ἕκαστος ὁδὸν διδοὺς τοῦ νοεῖσθαι θεὸν διὰ τῶν λεγομένων ὑπ' αὐτοῦ, ποιεῖ ἐν αὑτῷ ὀπήν, εἰ δὲ καὶ ἄλλως βούλει ὀνομάσαι, τρυμαλιάν. ἀφ' ἧς ὀπῆς ἢ τρυμαλιᾶς ὄψει διὰ μὲν Μωσέως τὸν νόμον, διὰ δὲ Ἡσαΐου τὴν προφητείαν αὐτοῦ, διὰ δὲ Ἱερεμίου ἄλλους λόγους θεοῦ. εἰ δὲ καὶ ἄγγελος ἔσται λαλῶν, ὡς ἐλάλησε κατὰ τὸ εἰρημένον ἐν τῷ «ὁ ἄγγελος ὁ λαλῶν ἐν ἐμοί», κἀκεῖ ἵσταμαι ἐπὶ τοῦ ἀγγέλου, καὶ βλέπω κἀκεῖ πέτραν καὶ ὀπὴν πέτρας καὶ βλέπω ἀγγελικῶς τὸν θεόν. 16.4 ἀλλὰ παραδείγματός μοι χρεία, ἵνα παραστήσω, πῶς ἔστιν ἐλθόντα ἐπὶ ἄγγελον καὶ δι' ἀγγέλου τὸν θεὸν ἰδεῖν. γέγραπται γὰρ ἐν τῇ Ἐξόδῳ· «ὤφθη ἄγγελος κυρίου ἐν φλογὶ πυρὸς βάτου τῷ Μωσεῖ. καὶ ὁρᾷ Μωσῆς, ὅτι ὁ βάτος καίεται πυρί, καὶ ὁ βάτος οὐ κατακαίεται». καὶ οὐκ εἶπεν ἡ γραφή, ὥσπερ εἶπε κατὰ τὴν ἀρχὴν ὅτι «ὤφθη ἄγγελος», οὕτως εἶπεν ὅτι ἄγγελος κυρίου, ἀλλ' «ἐγὼ θεὸς Ἀβραὰμ καὶ θεὸς Ἰσαὰκ καὶ θεὸς Ἰακώβ». ἦν οὖν ἐκεῖ ὁ θεὸς ἐν τῷ ἀγγέλῳ θεωρούμενος, ὡς διὰ τῆς πέτρας θεὸς γινωσκόμενος καὶ τῆς ὀπῆς τῆς ἐν αὐτῷ. Οὐκ οἶδας οὖν, πότε πέμπονται οἱ θηρευταί. διὰ τοῦτο μηδέ ποτε ἀπὸ τῶν ὀρέων καταβῇς μηδὲ καταλίπῃς τοὺς βουνοὺς μηδὲ ἔξω γίνου τῶν τρυμαλιῶν τῶν πετρῶν· ἐὰν γὰρ ἔξω εὑρεθῇς, λεχθήσεταί σοι ὡς ἔξω τυγχάνοντι καὶ λέγοντι τὰ τῶν ἔξω· «ἄφρον, ταύτῃ τῇ νυκτὶ ἀπαιτοῦσι τὴν ψυχήν σου ἀπὸ σοῦ· ἃ δὲ ἡτοίμασας, τίνι ἔσται»; λεχθήσεται [σοι ταῦτα· λεχθήσεται] δέ σοι [καὶ] ταῦτα, ἐὰν φάσκῃς· «καθελῶ μου τὰς ἀποθήκας καὶ μείζονας οἰκοδομήσω, καὶ ἐρῶ τῇ ψυχῇ